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No more Rosie chickens from Petaluma Farms for me

Written on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 with 26 Comments

I’m reading the excellent book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” right now.  For the past couple of years my wife and I have worked hard to buy more and more sustainable products in our lives.  When I came to a passage describing how companies like Petaluma Farms abuse the use of the term “free range” as a term to advertise their chickens, I was stunned.

See, there’s no true definition to “free range”.  It’s a nebulous term.  But since I bought from Whole Foods, and they proudly present the Rosie as their prime product, I (very mistakenly) assumed it was done… right.  I picture free range living as an environment free of wire cages, where the majority of the bird’s life is spent roaming, eating grass, grains, and other feed, etc.

According to Petaluma Farms’ website:

 USDA standards allow any poultry with access to the outside – even a small, outdoor, concrete pad – to be labeled free range.  Petaluma Poultry believes that free range chickens are raised in spacious poultry houses. Petaluma’s birds get approximately one square foot per bird, about 25% more space per bird than those raised in conventional poultry operations.

Now the average bird in a “conventional poultry operation” lives in a cage smaller than the size of a piece of 8.5×11 paper.  Can’t expand it’s wings fully.  Often can’t turn around.  So in context, the additional 25% *might* actually let them turn around.  Oh happy day.

Beginning at approximately four weeks of age, when the birds are fully feathered and able to withstand both exposure to the sun and cooler outside temperatures, the birds are allowed to roam outside of the house beginning about mid-morning, and are then ushered back inside the house around 5 pm.

This is better “spin” than when the Republican party introduced the “Clean Air Act”, a bill specifically designed to increase pollution levels.  Incidentally, farmed chickens are typically slaughtered in their 6th or 7th week, so Petaluma is basically giving them about 14 or so half-days of sunshine and walking around as a perk.  Notice that there’s no description nor pictures of the amount of space or grassy surface for walking around.  It could be as small as a parking spot, and we have no idea if it’s dirt, concrete, grass, or swampland (the latter is unlikely).  No pictures are on the site, and the lack of description is extremely telling.

I am contacting both Petaluma Farms and Whole Foods to inform them that I will no longer purchase this “product” (a term they both use to describe food I’m supposed to eat), and I hope some of you do the same.

My letter to Petaluma Farms:

Don’t you consider your marketing your factory farmed chickens as “free range” as not only manipulative, but damaging to the entire industry?

When I discovered your chickens spend most of their lives in a miserable cage, with a couple of weeks in the sun before slaughter, I was truly ashamed at all the money I’ve spent proudly buying your products.

Not another dime.

Incidentally, can you please add to your website some photos of your henhouse, including what it looks like fully occupied, and the outside “Free Range” area for the chickens to roam freely?

My letter to Whole Foods:

It has come to my attention that the “Rosie” brand chicken carried (at least) in Bay Area Whole Foods stores are far from the “free range” label implied in your stores.  Perhaps you are not aware of this, but the vendor, Petaluma Farms, actually follows typical factory farming approaches to raising chickens, with a bare minimum effort to achieve some type of “Free Range” designation.

This is bait-and-switch at best, and outright deception at worst.  On your “values” page, you claim “We have high standards and our goal is to sell the highest quality products we possibly can.”  I hope this is the case, and I hope you are willing to investigate the practices of Petaluma Farms.

You clearly have the buying power to mandate change, or to change vendors.  Also, my assumption is your customer base would rather shell out a few extra pennies knowing the food they are buying really is not only “natural” but raised in a more humane fashion.  Not to mention the fact that properly raised chicken actually taste better!

I’ll follow-up if anything comes of it – I have high hopes, but extremely low expectations.

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26 Comments on “No more Rosie chickens from Petaluma Farms for me”

  1. Here here. I was about to incorporate ‘Rosie’ in a sustainable foods recipe until I read through the FAQ on Petaluma Farms’ website. My jaw dropped to about the amount of room those chickens have to “freely roam.” By the way, The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a winner.

    Comment by Brook on June 26, 2009 at 12:52 pm

  2. I also am freaking out after my husband read sections of “the Omnivore’s Dilemma”. In fact I have spent the last week researching local companies I feel comfortable buying milk, eggs and chicken from. The chicken is for my mom who doesn’t want to know the gruesome details of farm life, just wants me to find her a “product” she can feel good about buying, if one can feel good about eating chicken. Do you have any recommendation where to find such a thing? I have chosen to support Clark Summit Farms for my eggs (they say you can buy their products at the Santa Rosa farmers market and in some stores), Strauss milk products (though I don’t feel so great about the 3x a day milking practice), and as for a chicken for my mother. . . still looking.

    Comment by Keren on October 23, 2009 at 3:41 pm

  3. You should read Nicolette Hahn Niman’s “Righteous Porkchop”.

    Comment by Peter Caldwell on November 12, 2009 at 9:09 am

  4. I find it very hard to find the real story behind “free range”/”cage free”. I have found a producer called TLC farms which comes to the farmer’s markets of Mountain View and Sunnyvale. They actually have pasture fed chickens (in addition to pigs and the like) and the photos to prove it! You can totally tell a difference in the egg. The shells are healthier, the protein is thicker and the yolks have a a beautiful dark orange color to them. They charge $6 a dozen for large and $7 for jumbo and they are well worth the money, for our bodies and ethics.

    Comment by Irene on November 17, 2009 at 2:07 pm

  5. thanks for the information. I did read the book by Pollan. I doubted the labeling practices by Rosie chicken i bought at Sprouts. I will not buy it again. thanks

    Comment by Raj on January 10, 2010 at 6:23 am

  6. Thanks for this info. Of course I’m scarf down one of their $20 chickens as I”m reading this. no mas for us.

    Comment by Nikko on February 18, 2010 at 3:49 pm

  7. You should know they also find a way to make the Rosie chickens plumper by adding water during the processing. The Rocky chickens are no better. Get your chickens from Marin Sun Farms if you can find them.
    Also fo more information on Petaluma Farms, you can see the farm on Google Earth
    The address is 700 Cavanaugh Lane in Petaluma

    Comment by Mary Ann Petro on March 5, 2010 at 1:09 pm

  8. Petaluma Farm is now bundled with several other farms and sold at Whole Foods under the name “Organic Valley”

    Comment by Zach on March 14, 2010 at 11:33 am

  9. I am so distraught right now. I am currently working on a project for school about the food we are putting in our bodies…and the deception behind it. I feel so terrible knowing that I have been buying free-range and cage-free eggs and chicken for years. Isn’t there anything we can buy that is honest?

    Comment by Franz on March 20, 2010 at 12:00 am

  10. I’ve been buying “organic” chicken breasts from Jimbo’s Natural Foods, erroneously assuming that that also meant “free range”. Come to find out that it does not – and worse, “free-range” also doesn’t mean what I thought it did. I then inquired about the “Smart Chickens’ that Jimbo’s sells. I was told that they were, in fact, free-range”. I looked up the Smart Chicken website and learned exactly what Jeremy, the author of this website, found out. (See the top of this page.)

    Comment by Inga on March 22, 2010 at 2:56 pm

  11. I’ve been duped along with so many other people. I was disgusted and shocked to read the Petaluma chicken website this evening and find out their definition of free range, as other people have mentioned. I live in San Francisco and am going to start telling everyone I know and talking to butchers everywhere I go about this situation. I will not eat Rocky’s, Mary’s or Rosie’s again and I will start passing the information every chance I get about what a racket this all is. The best way to stop this and demand honest production is with our mouths and pocketbooks. As someone else mentioned, isn’t there anyone honest out there anymore whose products we can trust and respect?

    Comment by Michelle on April 21, 2010 at 1:32 am

  12. Sadly, some of the high-end restaurants who believe in sustainability serve chickens from Rosie. I told a waiter once that they should take it off the menu, but he said it was a money maker since they advertise it as “free range”. I wish USDA would change the way our foods are labeled. I usually look for CCOF label on most things nowadays.

    Comment by Lydia on June 4, 2010 at 12:01 pm

  13. You honestly need to read the omnivore’s dilemma

    Comment by gabrielle on June 10, 2010 at 4:43 pm

  14. You honestly need to read the blog post you are commenting on.

    Comment by jeremy on June 17, 2010 at 10:14 am

  15. Well this bites! Just as I thought that I had found a reputable chicken,I read this.

    I am on a mission/ project to provide the best real food for my family. I bought Rosie chickens at sprouts in Plano Texas where I live and really felt good about my choices, even though they were $15.00 chickens. At one point my husband joked around by stating that for that kind of money the thing had better mow his yard or something.

    This is certainly disappointing, however I do have a solution. Local Farmers. We live in north central Texas, the Blackland Prarie. Today I did a little searching on the internet for local organic, farms. I cameacross a web-site called http://www.eatwild.com. On this page I was able to locat tons of farms within an hour or two drive from my home. We chose a small local farm and visited their website, where we couldsee dated photos of their chickens, cattle, goats, and pigs. We bought a variety of items from eggs to pork cutletsright from the farm store and spent around $100.00. Truthfully, this wasn’t anymore expensive and I felt so great knowing that thesechickens were foraging on the grounds that I was standing on only days before. The cattle are raised on organic grasses and legumes in rotating pastures. As a writer,Iam working on a project to document and demonstrate ho a large middle class American family on a very fixedincome can find and afford the best foods available right from the source. If you are interested in joining my project, I am looking to interview American families who have decided to make thright eating choices for themselves and their families. You can email me if you are interested in putting your two cents in. My article is scheduled for late fall .

    Comment by Hava on July 7, 2010 at 10:06 pm

  16. In addition to The Omnivore’s Dilemma I strongly recommend reading Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safron Foer.
    Thanks for the eatwild website info.
    -Irene

    Comment by Irene on August 24, 2010 at 10:16 am

  17. I have been doing a little chicken & rggs research of late & have found that Petaluma Farms (home of Judy’s Eggs) is different from Petaluma Poultry where the (Rosie) is raised. I think we all need to be more aware of the conditions our food is raised under. Thanks Jeremy, for this post.

    Comment by lp on September 13, 2010 at 4:05 pm

  18. I always wondered why Rosie’s & Rocky’s were so FAT! They are fed soybean meal – which is HORRIBLE for them and people. I do not eat any soy. The soy they feed them is probably GMO, too! Swearing off Petaluma Farms products – including their eggs sold under Judy’s Family Farm – what a CROCK! I found The Cornucopia Institute’s website (http://www.cornucopia.org/) about Organic Eggs and rating the farms etc. – and ratings and saw Judy’s has a bad rating – BARELY organic.

    Comment by Celiene on October 4, 2010 at 1:41 pm

  19. Gosh, it sounds like we’re headed for a revolution, and it sounds good-to-me!!! You can count me in. I just watched food, Inc. and was sickened by the corruption, greed, deception, cruelty, and abuse we are all experiencing as a result of the Big Boys running the show. You want to talk about cancer, diabetes and all of the other health issues this country is facing? I am revolted by the way God’s living creatures are being treated, and we are eating them! We are eating them. How disgusting that we are allowing abuse to this magnitude, and we are eating them!!! We are to be good STEWARDS to our planet, our fellow humans, all living creatures and treat all living things with respect. This is not happening, and guess what? That’s why we and our world is in its current state. How can we continue to live with our heads in the sand pretending this is not happening. They have taken total control of us and it is getting, and going to continue to get worse until we are so sick and weak we cannot fight, or think or do anything but continue to sit on our big, fat McDonald’s asses.

    They have total control over our food, and shove the lies down our throats and tell us we WILL eat it and like it. “RISE UP, AND WAKE UP AMERICA” Seriously, we have another tobacco issue here, only this time its in the form of our food. WHOLE FOODS, WAL-MART???? LIARS, BIG BOX, BIG FAT, GREEDY, LIARS TRYING TO TAKE OUR HARD EARNED MONEY AND KILL US AS THEY ARE DOING IT!!!!! CHECK OUT THE SIZE OF THE ASSES THAT WADDLE IN AND OUT OF THESE SUPPOSED PREVAYERS OF HEALTHY, WHOLE FOODS, TO BUY HEALTHY FOOD….That’s not health and good stewardship. Get local stay local and kill the BIG BOX, BECAUSE THEY’RE KILLING US, AND THEY ARE CRUEL AND ABUSIVE TO GODS CREATURES. THE ANIMALS DON’T HAVE A VOICE BUT WE DO AND THEY NEED US AND WE NEED THEM. If we don’t start turning this rig around fast, the world, God, and Mother Nature will shake us off her like water off a wet dogs back. Not to get on the God squad factor, but I have to bring it down. God-Mother Nature whatever you like to call it will not tolerate it, and there will be a day of reckoning. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMER, WILD, ORGANIC, LOCAL. IF YOU ARE IN PETALUMA CA., ONE TO TRY GREEN-STRING FARMS. IT’S YOUR LIFE, IT’S OUR PLANET.

    Comment by ann on December 20, 2010 at 10:24 pm

  20. Two things:

    1. A truly free-range chicken is not a vegetarian but an omnivore, delighting in bugs, as well as plants. I’m thus somewhat disturbed by what I view as misguided attempts by organic chicken breeders and egg suppliers to provide chickens and eggs resulting from a “vegetarian-only” diet. That’s just not natural, and it would seem to indicate that the birds aren’t truly “cage-free,” either–not when their diets have to be so artificially restricted to vegetarianism.

    2. Does anyone but me stop to consider what chicken meat and other meat gets packaged in? I was aghast when Smart Chicken started packaging its product on Styrofoam trays. I complained heartily to my natural food store, and they complained enough to get Smart Chicken to switch to something else. Unfortunately, what they switched to–No. 1 PETE (polyethylene) petroleum-based plastic trays–is no better in my community. These, like the Styrofoam trays before them, get diverted into our local landfill. Just great. Not only is the “natural” life of Petaluma’s Smart Chicken chickens highly suspect, but so is their true commitment to environmental policy when they package their chicken products in plastic trash that will last practically forever in my local landfill–or, worse, get blown into the nearby Pacific Ocean. Time was when just-slaughtered chickens got packaged in waxed cardboard boxes of ice, shipped via refrigerated truck to the store, where butchers cut them to order and wrapped them in waxed butcher paper tied with string. Yes, by all means read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, but also watch Reel Thing Production’s documentary about plastic, “Bag It.” If that doesn’t convince you to take a good, long, hard look at your plastic-consumption habits, nothing will. Consider all of the organically grown food out there that then gets packaged in plastic. Talk about undoing all of that good intent, as far as the earth and public health is concerned.

    Comment by Sonya Newlyn on January 19, 2011 at 12:24 pm

  21. I am going to write a letter to Eureka “natural” Foods and tell them what they sell as “free range” Rocky chickens is erroneous, that I will not buy these chickens again and that I will also notify everyone I can in the area of their Rocky chickens. I hope they sell these chickens because they do not know the facts about how the ads for Rocky chickens are a lie; they are “Agri Businesses” for sure and I will try to put them OUT of business with my pocketbook! (and yes I read the”Righteous Porkchop”)
    Pat

    Comment by pat kanzler on March 24, 2011 at 2:47 pm

  22. I bought what was packaged to LOOK like chicken breast the other day, and it turned out to be back or God only knows what part of the chicken! Paid $10 for what looked like three breasts, and by the time I got the usable meat off of it, I had to throw away about 65% of the package because it was connective tissue or whatever. Rosie’s is a rip off.

    Comment by Karen on March 26, 2011 at 12:32 pm

  23. WOW!
    I just got off the phone with Rocky. I asked what the chickens were fed. A healthy diet of corn and soy? WTF?

    I am someone who suffers from corn allergies and am trying desperately to rid myself of consuming corn.

    I will be checking out the farms listed above.

    This is so messed up… that shit is in everything :^(

    Comment by JoEllen Ussery on October 11, 2011 at 11:16 am

  24. I totally agree! I am reading that book and it’s really eye opening. I think BIG organic just doesn’t work. I’m 100% for buying local organic farms- I can actually talk about there farming methods in person!

    Comment by Aaron on November 14, 2011 at 12:49 am

  25. found this blog while researching Judys Eggs. I will be calling them direct to ask questions as I can see that there is a difference between the rosie chicken and judys eggs. I agree whole heartedly about animals, poultry, any living creatures right to being treated well. I also know how labeling can misrepresent a product. That is why I will do my own research.
    However, I do not like the sarcastic tone of this blog and particularly the response to a comment ” you honestly need to read the blog you are commenting on.” I am sure you hurt this persons feelings, and don’t we all skim blogs? The way the information was presented was so distasteful, I really did not want to keep reading, but did so to try to get an overview of what was being expressed. Please try to address your commenters with respect.

    Comment by Renee on December 8, 2011 at 2:14 pm

  26. Renee,
    First, In the case you have picked, I felt the original commentor was being disrespectful, and so wrote the same back to him. Ultimately, the Internet is a big place and people are welcome to spend their time wherever they like. I’m sorry you find my tone sarcastic, but this is my little corner online, and I have the right to write however I please, and if it costs me readers, so be it – I’m not in this for the money, audience, fame, or anything other than self-expression…
    Best
    Jeremy

    Comment by jeremy on December 8, 2011 at 3:57 pm

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